~Feel free to discuss any topic related to the Mitchell Camera. Both 35 mm and 16 mm models are welcomed here. Also consider posting topics of other major motion picture cameras that you feel are important to the development of the Mitchell Camera.

Update: You may have noticed that we have returned to just one category as opposed to dividing the forum into 7 different areas. Apparently, it was an unpopular change and returning to the old format will allow posters to find their submissions more easily.~

So a few weeks back I found myself hanging over the side of a very large dumpster. I found some great stuff some useable lumber and this tripod that I Know wasn't built in the last 20 years. Come to find its a Mitchell tripod. A couple google searches later and i know nothing more than when I started. Here's what is legible on the tripod. The first is a small riveted badge on the leg which reads AS FOLLOWS : MITCHELL /ACROSS THE TOP. CAMERA CORP /NEXT LINE LOS ANGELES /No. B249

that is the badge. The head on the tripod has more text which reads as follows:

RIES MODEL G PHOTOPLANE TILT HEAD TRADE MARKREG. US. PAT. OFF

AND ON THE BASE OF THE TRIPOD ITS MARKED WITH :NO: 1601

thats all the info on the tripod. Anyone with some Mitchell knowledge know anything about this tripod ? I'll try to post up some photos if anyone is interested

I take it the tripod has wood legs? Sounds like a standard Mitchell made tripod with a newer head on it. Mitchell made these tripods starting in the 1920's and into the 1950's and probably later. The address for Mitchell being in Los Angeles puts it being made in the 1920's and probably the first half of the decade. I don't know anything about that brand of head but these type of "sticks" were used for many years and you might even find one in use today. So someone just put a newer head on it at some point. Mitchell did make their own heads however.

So this is a very old tripod that filmed silent movies! Funny thing is, I bought a newer, 1950's, metal tripod and it came with a Mitchell made head that was also a Los Angeles address. My head was marked, UPC, probably for Universal Pictures Company, I hope!